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Kerry says 90,000 have been killed in Syria. Fall of Damascus may not be far off.

“After nearly two years of fighting, the death toll in Syria has reached some 90,000 people, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday,” according to AP and the Times of Israel. “I had occasion … to speak this morning with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. The first thing he mentioned to me was in his estimate perhaps as many as 90,000 people have been killed in Syria,” said Kerry. “The figure is well beyond that quoted by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, who said Tuesday the number of people killed in Syria’s civil war is probably approaching 70,000,” noted AP. “She told the UN Security Council that there have probably been almost 10,000 new deaths in recent weeks.”

As we’ve discussed in recent months, the implosion of Damascus is going from bad to worse. The West has no answers. Iran and Russia are making things worse. The Assad government is tottering on the edge. Chemical and biological weapons caches are sitting there, in danger of being used or stolen. It’s difficult in such an environment not to think something more catastrophic is coming. The fall of Damascus may not be far off. I look forward to discussing all this in more detail when Damascus Countdown releases next month, and when President Obama heads to the region. In the meantime, let’s not give up hope. Let’s keep praying for peace and that this evil scourge should end soon.